I was skimming through my first iteration of The K-Pop Tag and realized it definitely needed an update, so here we are!
When did you start listening to K-pop?
Fall of 2019, when Make It Right (feat. Lauv) by BTS was released.
How did you get into K-pop?
I knew K-Pop existed well before I ever actively chose to listen to it. What got me to listen was a collaboration between Lauv and BTS, followed by BTS and Halsey doing a song together. At that point I decided to listen to BTS more, since I enjoyed those two songs. And the rest was history.
What was the first song you listened to?
So at first I would say Make It Right by BTS, but then I thought back to 2012 when a certain song took over the world. That’s right the actual answer of my first K-Pop song is Gangnam Style by PSY.
What was the first group you listened to?
The good ol’ Bulletproof Boy Scouts, Bangtan Sonyeondan, or more commonly known as BTS.
Who is your current favorite boy group?
I love a lot of boy groups, would even say I am a boy group stand, but my answer to this question is still BTS, although Stray Kids is a close second. There is just something really special about BTS, and I love their musicality and overall passion for what they do.
Who is your current favorite girl group?
This is the biggest change of all of my answers. If you’ve kept up with my monthly K-Pop quick takes, than you will know that I now have a level of disdain for Blackpink (who were the original answer to this). Their fandom ruined them for me, and I find their music to be too similar and too few and far between to think they are actually the greatest girl group in the world.
On a happier note, I do have new favorites now that I have widely expand the scope of who I listen to. If I had to pick one group though, I’d choose Purple Kiss. Out of all the girl groups I follow, I have the most enthusiasm when Purple Kiss announces a comeback.
Who is your ultimate bias?
I want to cop out of this and say all of BTS, but that isn’t fair or necessarily true. RM is still my number one favorite, but all seven of them are so great and admirable for different reasons.
What is your favorite choreography?
For me this is a hard question since, as a former dancer, I have high expectations and specific tastes. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a choreography that I was really wow’ed by. Run BTS is the last that comes to mind.
Have you learned any choreography?
Not actively, but I will get some bits and pieces stuck in my head. The opening of Shoot Out by Monsta X is one, because the odd chest snapping motion makes me laugh to be honest.
What is your current favorite song?
I have two songs that right now I am listening to a lot which are Set Me Free pt. 2 by Jimin and Smoke Sprite by So!YoON! ft. RM. Those are the closest I could come to a current favorite since they are on repeat.
What group is the newest to you?
As of writing, it would be n.SSign who released a pre-debut track last month.
What was the last song you listened to?
The last song as of writing this was Replay by Oh My Girl thanks to shuffling my playlist on my way to work this morning.
Share Your K-pop Playlist
Want to do this tag? Here are the questions.
When did you start listening to K-pop?
How did you get into K-pop?
What was the first song you listened to?
What was the first group you listened to?
Who is your current favorite boy group?
Who is your current favorite girl group?
Who is your ultimate bias?
What is your favorite choreography?
Have you learned any choreography?
What is your current favorite song?
What group is the newest to you?
What was the last song you listened to?
Share Your K-pop Playlist
* When did you start listening to K-pop?
I listen to kpop for variety, but it’s not the primary (nor secondary, nor tertiary…) genre that I listen to, so while I’m “aware of it” I don’t feel like I follow it either, so depending on how one quantifies “listening”.. well, I 1st started seeing it around YT in about 2017 or 2018 and I’d click videos that showed up from time to time. I feel like I see it a lot more and listen to it more as a result in the past year or so but it’s still always a peripheral “oh that looks new” on my feed, not “I’m so excited for this comeback” or whatever.
* How did you get into K-pop?
I saw a BlackPink video on my feed and I was vaguely aware that they were some Korean band, so I clicked it to see what it was. IIRC, it was “As if it’s your last” but it might have been “Playing with Fire.” It was right around that time, anyway. It was pretty good, I thought, but I didn’t go looking for their back catalog of music either. IIRC, Twice started showing up in my feed after that and it was the same – I enjoyed what I saw/heard well enough but didn’t go back looking for more either. I have this vague idea that I enjoyed Twice a little more than BlackPink, but I’m not sure of the memory.
* What was the first song you listened to?
As you said, it was Gangnam Style since that was literally everywhere and couldn’t be avoided.
* What was the first group you listened to?
Answered above 😛
* Who is your current favorite boy group?
I just have not been able to get in to any boy groups. Since kpop isn’t really “my type of music” I find that if I am not watching a video with the song that I tend to not really care about the music one way or the other, and since I prefer looking at pretty ladies to pretty lords the male group vids haven’t called to me, I suppose.
* Who is your current favorite girl group?
Can’t really say I’ve got one. I’d say it’s a toss up between Everglow and Twice, I guess.
* Who is your ultimate bias?
I’ve started seeing this term lately, but haven’t ever seen it explicitly defined. From context, I assume it’s my favorite artist above all, not simply the bias within any given group. If that’s the case, then…. I don’t think I have one. I’m not big into celebrity culture. They’re just people, after all. It’s actually quite rare for me to know the names of everyone in any group. I think it has only been in the past few months I finally can name all the Twice girls. I can do 4 of the Everglow members for sure, but if you put EU and Onda next to each other in a picture and asked me to tell you which was which I don’t think I could do that. I know one of Dreamcatcher’s members is Yooyeon (Yoohyeon?), but I couldn’t pick her out of the group. I do know all 4 BlackPink members, at least.
All this is to say… I guess I don’t care enough about kpop to pick one.
* What is your favorite choreography?
I enjoy Chungha’s dancing, so … anything from her, I guess.
*Have you learned any choreography?
No.
* What is your current favorite song?
Maybe it’s the novelty of it, but NMixx’s “Young Dumb Stupid” has been stuck in my head lately. Of course it’s sampling “Frere Jacques” and is thus stupidly easy to remember, so that probably plays into that. Overall, I’d say probably Twice’s “Knock Knock” is the one that I go back to most often.
* What group is the newest to you?
NMixx, Mave, and Purple Kiss has all stood out to me lately. I know only Mave is actually “new” out of them, but…there ya go.
* What was the last song you listened to?
My daughter put on Mave’s “Pandora” and aespa’s “Black Mamba” last night, so those are the last one’s I’ve heard. The last one I turned on myself was NMixx’s “Love me like this” a few days ago.
* Share Your K-pop Playlist
Don’t have one. Like i said before, I sometimes click if something comes up in my feed, and occasionally will go seek out something I’ve heard before if I liked it well enough, but I don’t actually have a playlist for kpop. Just “Symphonic Metal/Epic” music for me there 😉